Education is a vital aspect of human life. It plays a key role in constructing an individual, state, and society at large. The quality and standard of Education System as crucial measures for social progress.
Human development. Therefore quality education is one of the 18 sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the UN.
Even though education is as a necessary component of life and holds a crucial position in all cultures and societies, it is not universally available to everyone.
The quality of education changes significantly across various regions and communities grounded on their socioeconomic and political atmosphere.
In terms of the regional share, the western hemisphere of North America and Europe
have achieved massive and groundbreaking progress in education as compared to the rest of the world.
This is evident when listing the top-ranked universities in the world and finding western institutes almost
solely comprised of the list.
The western world has advanced to such a level in terms of imparting education, that now there are best assignment writing service available on the web, where I as a student can pay someone to do my assignment, and gain an edge in my assignments or thesis and remove the burden of too much coursework from my shoulders.
In this article, we are going to explore what difficulties do the Saudi Arabian government faces in implementing its education policies and how it is reforming its education system in this modern age.
Saudi Arabia’s Regional Importance
Saudi Arabia holds a central position in the Arab and the Islamic world. As it’s a crucial part of the global oil trade, and a major player in the Middle East geopolitics, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) exists under the international spotlight.
The Kingdom’s impactful historical development and the Islamic revivalist movement which was the main factor in the kingdom’s construction which was the government started by the Al-Saud family, and the swift
modernization of its society and economy are some major reasons for the importance of focusing on its policies, culture, and economy.
The state of Education in Saudi Arabia
Education is one of the several issues that have amassed significant domestic and international awareness, particularly in the first two decades of the 21st century. The 9/11 attack in the United States was one of the major incidents that shifted all the western world’s attention on the foreign funding and educational model of the KSA.
The educational structure to in radical literature and international pressure on the Saudi monarchy to bring about reforms. Many studies reported the link between home-grown terrorism in KSA and its radical educational framework. Sever objectionable content against Jew, Christians, Shias, and other minorities in the school curriculum and textbooks by these studies.
As western think tanks and governments and policymakers debated this issue, the Saudi monarchy acknowledged the problem and commenced a process of reforming their education policy via substantial programs concentrated on numerous segments of the school and university institutions.
Challenges in Educational Reforms
KSA faced numerous challenges in reforming its educational systems.
Despite the governing monarchy being on the same page with the western government in reforming its education model, it was troublesome for
them to propose and implement an impactful reform because of the hostility from the who offered religious validity to the monarchy.
In 2003, over 150 Islamic scholars petitioned the government forbidding them from reforming the school curriculum. The body of the lemma held and still holds significant sway over Saudi society
and monarchy can’t tread too far from the interests of the lemma if it wants to remain as a ruling power.
Comprehensive Assessment Project
One of the preliminary reform projects was the comprehensive educational assessment project,
which was initiated in 1996 right after Crown Prince Abdullah took the charge of
the throne after the heart attack suffered by King Fahad a year before.
The main goal of this project was to conduct a detailed evaluation of the education system at every
level to construct a report recommending reform measures.
A committee of academics, technocrats, and experts from multiple fields to complete the evaluation work. It took three years for the committee to write a report titled “Educational Reform in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”. Strangely the committee’s suggestions to the public and no implementation of those recommendations due to an incompetent bureaucracy.
Ten-Year Strategic Plan
In 2003, the Ministry of Education constructed a Ten Year Strategic Plan, 2004-2014,
intending to make a difference in the education sector by consolidating optimal changes in the curriculum.
The plan presented 15 general objectives, and the first objective was to acquire universal primary enrollment.
The second objective was to gain 100 percent enrollment among Saudi children in the age bracket of (6-8) years.
This strategic plan resulted in 98% enrollment at the primary level and 94% at the secondary level according
to the 2017 data.
Tatter Project
The Tatter Project in 2005 and was a project having personal significance to King Abdullah. It called for all Saudi students to be eligible for world-class school education.
The project had a budget of US$2.4 billion, with the aim of refining teaching methods,
stressing science education, and giving training to half a million teachers.
Curriculum Reform
The curriculum progression and textbook revision projects concentrated on eliminating derogatory
and bigoted references towards others as well as refining the standard of education provided in schools.
The program aimed at constructing a skill-directed curriculum for better human resource progression.
The standard of education over time as a result of effort in the reform of the curriculum.
Science and technology education prominently improved as compared to the past. Curriculum formation concentrated more on the refinement of science education.
However, the improvement in education curriculum didn’t have any impact on
humanities and social sciences subjects as the existing education.
Mmodels in KSA continue to impart the conventional method of education when it comes to
social sciences and humanities.
